Once a nation turns its back on a resolute determination to cultivate moral deservedness, political and financial superintendency passes to those who gain power illegitimately--a fact described eloquently by President Theodore Roosevelt.

The pope is hardly alone in criticizing trickle-down economics. David Stockman, one of the architects of Reaganomics, was no pinko commie when he expressed grave second thoughts about supply-side economics. At least Francis did not use the horse manure analogy of John Kenneth Galbraith.

What happened on that late-summer day? It was a Sunday, and President Richard Nixon suspended convertability of the US dollar into gold, effectively ending the 25-year Bretton Woods era of fixed currency exchange rates against the US dollar.

The self-confessed smartest guy in the room has written a compelling, intensely readable book that exhumes aspects of economic history that both Democrats and Republicans likely wish would have stayed hidden.

Professor Krugman keeps fighting a straw-man argument. The real issue isn't a choice between stimulus and austerity. After all, we've had nearly five years of quite remarkable monetary and fiscal policy stimulus.

This morning's Washington Post provides the best reporting yet on the new CNN and Jeff Zucker's intentions. It's good reporting, but it fails to consider CNN's early years and early strategy. I created CNN as the antithesis of the then three major networks.

David Stockman's New York Times 'rant' glorifies the gold standard and denigrates government for standing in the way of putting "free markets and genuine wealth creation back into capitalism." In fact, Stockman would return us to an earlier era of crony capitalism.

The deep pain and tragedy of unintended consequences are experiences that Stockman and Sachs share, and that they each carry with them to this day. We need them to write about that, because that is where they have the greatest insight to offer, and the side of their stories that people most need to understand.

Why is David Stockman driving everyone crazy? The shoot-the-messenger frenzy that has greeted Sunday's New York Times op-ed by Ronald Reagan's former budget director leaves one searching for the message that has so unhinged his critics.

Boehner claims that the Democrats proposal is not serious and is a bad-faith offer. Coming from him, that's rich. We have a three-decades long record to prove definitively that Republicans are themselves unserious about deficits.

David Stockman was the Paul Ryan of the Reagan era, and the similarities are uncanny. The central question facing the Reagan Revolution was whether Reagan could cut taxes, increase defense spending and balance the budget, all at once.

Small businesses are proven to be this nation's chief engine of economic stimulus and job creation but President Obama plans to close the only federal agency that exists to help America's 28 million small businesses.

False premises and shoddy analysis were on full display on the New York Times' front screen overnight. Carl Hulse's article, "In Fiscal Fight, G.O.P. Distrust of Obama Runs Deep" is not news reporting or analysis so much as an abdication of both.